It’s common knowledge that outside air gets contaminated by numerous sources of pollution, including emissions from motor vehicles, solid fuel burning, smoke from bushfires, windblown dust, and more.
But many people don’t realize that indoor air is also susceptible to contamination. Among the common sources of indoor pollution are mold, cigarette smoke, household cleaning and maintenance products, and a myriad of your beloved household products like candles, air fresheners, and personal care items.
Fortunately, there are ways to improve the indoor air quality of your house without giving up any of your favourite items or activities. This is where an air purifier comes into play.
What is an Air Purifier?
An air purifier is an electric appliance that pulls in indoor air and filters it, removing different sources of pollution and pollutants. Then it releases cleaner air back into the room, thus improving the overall indoor air quality.
What Does an Air Purifier Do?
As the name implies, it purifies the air. But what does that exactly mean? What does an air purifier do?
Well, one of the primary functions of air purifiers is their ability to remove pollutants such as tobacco smoke or carbon monoxide, mold, dust, pet dander, lead, and pollen from the air.
It happens by drawing in indoor air and passing it through a filter. After gathering all pollutants, the filter pushes clean air back into the room.
An interesting question is how can an air purifier filter such small particles as mold and bacteria. Due to a dense network of fibers and multiple layers of intricate weaves, high-efficiency filters remove tiny pollutants and allergens of 2.5 microns. This is the approximate size of animal dander.
Another vital function of air purifiers is to remove odors. There are different types of air purifiers, including the HEPA filter, an activated carbon filter, the ionizer, the UV air purifier, and the ozone air purifier. Each of them works differently. Let’s check them out.
What Does a HEPA Filter Do?
A specific type of high-quality air filter, the HEPA filter, is designed to remove 99.7% of all particles larger than 0.2 microns, like viruses, bacteria, pollen, PM2.5, allergens, and more, at a high-efficiency rate.
After passing through the air filter, air particles are caught by three mechanisms: diffusion, interception, and impaction.
However, this type of air purifier isn’t effective at removing a great majority of irritating particles and pollutants, as well as odors, from the air. To get really clean air, you should use a HEPA filter with an ionizer or an activated carbon filter.
What Does an Ionizer Do?
Ionizers are one of the most popular air purifiers. They don’t actually remove pollutants from the house, unlike other types. Instead, by adding negative ions into your space, this appliance makes the pollutants so heavy that they fall from the air and stoop to the floor.
Ionizers are most effective at removing dander, viruses, bacteria, dust, allergens, smoke, and fumes.
What Does an Activated Carbon Filter Do?
The primary objective of an activated carbon filter is to remove odors and smells like smoke or natural gas from your home. However, it isn’t great at eliminating mold, pollen, dust, or pet dander.
People usually use an activated carbon filter along with a HEPA air filter instead to extend its opportunities.
What Does a UV Air Purifier Do?
Using ultraviolet light, a UV air purifier removes potentially harmful viruses, bacteria, and pathogens from your home. UV light eliminates pathogens by breaking molecular bonds in their DNA.
The effectiveness of this type of air purifier depends upon the light’s wattage and the time of exposure to the light.
UV technology is most effective at killing viruses and bacteria. This type kills 99.9% of mold spores that pass through your furnace or air conditioner.
What Does an Ozone Air Purifier Do?
Ozone air purifiers intentionally produce the gas ozone, which, by altering the chemical composition of particles or other gasses, masks odors and makes the air seem fresher and cleaner.
This air purifier isn’t good at reducing all types of contaminants in the air. Moreover, it releases the byproduct of ozone gas which can scar up the lungs and ignite some respiratory problems like asthma.
Why Should One Use an Air Purifier?
As has already been mentioned, air purifiers are designed to keep your indoor air in top shape. Air purifiers are highly effective at removing all impurities, including odors, smoke, dust, and pet dander. What can it mean to you? Check out the number of its mind-blowing benefits here:
- Neutralizes unpleasant odors
- Eliminates harmful chemicals like ammonia, chlorine, and phthalates from indoor environments
- Relieves symptoms of asthma by eliminating such pollutants as pet dander, pollen, or dust mites that irritate your airways, causing difficulty breathing
- Improves sleep
- Reduces the chances of airborne diseases
- Removes harmful radon, which damages the cell linings of the lungs, leading to cancer
- It can increase life expectancy by providing you with the highest air quality.
To Sum Up
An air purifier is a must for those wishing to maintain the air quality of their homes or workplaces. It can be used for either curative or preventive measures: a win-win option for people suffering from respiratory diseases like asthma or allergies and also for people who want to eliminate the problem of pollution or bad odors.
The main functions of high-quality air purifiers are to eliminate pollutants like cigarette smoke, dust, pollen, mold, and pet dander, as well as odors from the air.
Choose an air purifier type thoroughly according to your specific needs, as each type employs different technologies when cleansing the air you breathe. Enjoy a clean indoor environment!
